Rafaela Pandolfini, Big Stick Energy

Artist: Rafaela Pandolfini
Title: Big Stick Energy
Size: Option 1. 55cm high x 117cm wide.
Option 2. 80cm high x 174cm wide
Material: Textile (digital print on waratah fabric) 
Date: 2021

'Big Stick Energy' was originally installed as a billboard on Wiradjuri land (Hume Highway, Albury) for Myths & Facts a commission for West Space and PHOTO 2021. 

Myths & Facts is an ongoing research project and in February 2021, the project took form as a processional series of ten images displayed on billboards along the Hume Highway in Eora, Wiradjuri, Taungurong and Woiworung countries, between New South Wales and Victoria.

Myths & Facts interrogates Australia’s failure to address environmental violence at a policy level. Evasive phrases pertaining to the government’s position on climate change have been transposed from the mouths of politicians onto “Chux” cleaning cloths. Stripped of context, these empty phrases signal our government’s disguise and deferral of the environmental emergencies we currently face. The familiar zigzag pattern of these ubiquitous household cloths is a recurring backdrop for Rafaela’s ongoing exploration of gendered and emotional labour.